1. Jeremiah 31
31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD ,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to [1] them, [2] "
declares the LORD .
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD .
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the LORD ,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD .
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
Jesus Predicts His Death John 12
20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ’Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"
29Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
How many of you have seen a circus? What all happens at a circus? I have never seen a circus in real life; I have on TV but never up close and real. I have always wanted to sit in the front row and watch.
There is a story of a little boy who lived far out in the country in the late 1800s had reached the age of twelve and had never in all his life seen a circus. You can imagine his excitement, when one day a poster went up at school announcing that on the next Saturday a traveling circus was coming to the nearby town. He ran home with the glad news and the question, “Daddy, can I go?” Although the family was poor, the father sensed how important this was to the lad. “If you do your Saturday chores ahead of time,” he said, “I’ll see to it that you have the money to go.”
Come Saturday morning, the chores were done and the little boy stood by the breakfast table, dressed in his Sunday best. His father reached down into the pocket of his overalls and pulled out a dollar bill—the most money the little boy had possessed at one time in all his life. The father cautioned him to be careful and then sent him on his way to town.
The boy was so excited; his feet hardly seemed to touch the ground all the way. As he neared the outskirts of the village, he noticed people lining the streets, and he worked his way through the crowd until he could see what was happening. Lo and behold, it was the approaching spectacle of a circus parade!
The parade was the grandest thing this lad had ever seen. Caged animals snarled as they passed, bands beat their rhythms and sounded shining horns, midgets performed acrobatics while flags and ribbons swirled overhead. Finally, after everything had passed where he was standing, the traditional circus clown, with floppy shoes, baggy pants, and a brightly painted face, brought up the rear. As the clown passed by, the little boy reached into his pocket and took out that precious dollar bill. Handing the money to the clown, the boy turned around and went home.
What had happened? The boy thought he had seen the circus when he had only seen the parade!
Has there ever been a time in your life where you wanted to do everything just right? Something special was being planned and you were to be involved; this was a big deal for everyone and people were relying on you. But you had come to a point where you are filled with mixed feelings. Why me? What if I mess up? I am scared, can’t someone else do it? I don’t think they chose the right person. Have you ever had any of those feelings? I can say that I have. There are times where I am filled with self-doubt, anxiety and yes, even fear at times. There are times when I would like to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head and not come out and face the real world.
Am I chicken, am I weak, and am I a yellow bellied coward or do I just ache with a very troubled heart? No matter what the emotions or feeling are they can become very real and even at times overpowering if I allow them to take on an identity of their own. If I do not say that I am stronger than those feelings I can easily be sucked under by them. How do I overcome those strong emotions? Pills, doctors, counseling or…I myself turn to the scriptures and to God in prayer. And I do read a lot and I do pray hard. And it does make a difference; it does center me to God’s desires and leaves with the ability to listen and not to react.
Jesus, although divine, was also human. His stomach growled with hunger, when he stubbed his toe upon a rock he felt pain, when he was awake too long he felt weary. He had emotions; he could cry, he could laugh, he could tease, he felt hunger, empathy…he was as human as you or I but also godly. We tend to pigeon hole him into one category or another. As God or as a human; forgetting that he was both.
I am reading a book that is marvelous, entitled, Jesus, Man of Joy. It shows a man who knew what the path would bring but one that walked that path with joy, humor and love. Yes, there were times when his heart was weary and troubled. Where the realities of humanity laid heavy upon his soul; but he also knew that what he was to do—the path he was to walk was not just for him but for the entire world.
So he says to those gathered around him and I am using the Message translation to break it down so that it might be understandable:
Time’s up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24"Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.
We have some farmers here and even some gardeners...I think you understand the basic of what Jesus is saying here and if not check with Virgil, John and Cliff and they can explain to you the idea of planting or seeding your field. But basically if you want your crop to grow you have to plant your seed, you have to put it into the ground so that it might bloom and grow.
Jesus continues
25In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.
I love this verse. Because it took mea long time to get to this point in my life. Where I could love freely and really be able to give myself to others without worry. And once I allowed myself to reach that point in my Christian walk, I felt free and able to give more of myself to others and thus my reward of love became being loved and accepted.
verse 26"If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.
Follow me, he says. Sometimes our hearts our huge and we are willing to serve but we don’t always want to follow where Jesus is going. Jesus wants us to be on 24/7. We are always on call to serve. Not just on Sunday mornings, not just once a month but everyday, every moment. And can you imagine the reward for serving him…WOW!
verse 27"Right now I am storm-tossed. And what am I going to say? "Father, get me out of this’? No, this is why I came in the first place.
Jesus says, Right now I am storm-tossed, right now I am scared, right now I am in tumult and he knows he can’t ask his father to get him out of the situation, he knows that this was his purpose for being here. Aren’t we all storm-tossed at times, where we are in the throes of despair and the agony of our souls is too great and we don’t think we can handle one more thing? We feel like the world is against us and nothing will help us. Our problems seem minor when put into the perspective that we aren’t asked to give our lives to save mankind. And aren’t we lucky that we have someone that did that?
In verse 28:
28I’ll say, "Father, put your glory on display.’"
The glory here is Jesus himself. He is the glory that will be put on display. Jesus the Christ in all his grandeur will be put on public display. He was paraded through the streets in the most humiliating manner possible.
As Jesus is sharing this we are told by John that
A voice came out of the sky: "I have glorified it, and I’ll glorify it again." 29The listening crowd said, "Thunder!" Others said, "An angel spoke to him!"
30Jesus said, "The voice didn’t come for me but for you.
The it, that is spoken of is Jesus’ name. Jesus name had been, was being and was going to be glorified…his name was going to be worshipped, his name was going to be lifted up and it was through his death, his burial and resurrection that this would take place. And then a voice speaks to those gathered letting then know that Christ name will be glorified. A verbal voice speaking too many not speaking to Jesus but to those gathered and still some of those gathered didn’t get the point that it was God speaking to them.
Jesus continues in verse:
31At this moment the world is in crisis. Now Satan, the ruler of this world, will be thrown out.
32And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me."
The world was in crisis then and it is in crisis now. These words could be written for us today. We are in a war. It is not our first war and most certainly and sadly won’t be our last war. Eventually, Satan will be thrown out. When? I do not truly now. We just know that the time will come when peace will truly reign upon the earth. And through Christ we will drawn to him and given peace. What more can we ask?
God gave us his son as a sacrifice. Christ came to earth to sacrifice for us. Did he always want to bear upon himself the weight of the world, the weight of our sins? No, not always but he knew that was his duty; that was the reason he had been called to earth.
Are you experiencing all that God has for you? The Christian life is a marvelous adventure, an exciting journey. Many people—including Christians—seem to be content to float in a sea of mediocrity, settling for second best. Do you want the abundant life that Jesus promised? Do you want to live life to its fullest? Then aim higher. Don’t set your sights too low. Determine to become all that God created you to be. Give yourself to Christ, follow him completely, and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you and I can promise you this, ‘You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!’
Guy Dowd tells this story:
Danny was born with no ears. He could hear all right, but he didn’t have ears like normal people. All his life, Danny endured ridicule and rejection because of his deformity. But he learned to live with it. Thankfully, he had loving parents and a strong family to sustain him.
When Danny was in high school, his doctor told him of a new procedure that made it possible to transplant ears from one person to another. That meant Danny could get new ears if someone who was compatible to him ever donated theirs.
This was exciting news. After all, people donated body parts all the time—hearts, lungs, kidneys. But Danny soon found that donor ears were extremely scarce.
Danny didn’t give up hope, however. He knew that someday he would get new ears. He graduated from high school with honors and was accepted at a major university thousands of miles away. He kissed his parents good-bye and began his life as a college student. Again, though, he found it hard to make friends and fit in because of his ears.
One day he got a phone call from his father. “Go to the hospital tomorrow, Danny. A donor has been found.”
The very next day Danny checked into the university hospital where doctors were ready to perform the surgery. A few hours later, Danny had new ears.
When the bandages came off, Danny gazed into the mirror for hours. He finally had ears like normal people. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t ashamed of the way he looked. He not only had new ears, he had a new life.
A few weeks later, Danny received another phone call from his father. “Son, your mother is very ill,” his father said. “She may not live through the night.”
Danny was on the first plane home. When he arrived, his father gave him the sad news that his mother had died.
Together they went to the funeral home, where Danny was able to see his mother for the last time. He leaned over to kiss her cheek. Brushing her hair back from her face, he noticed that she had no ears.
It was a mother’s incredible love that provided Danny with new ears. And it was a Father’s incredible love that provided us with new our new life. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Yes our hearts may be troubled, our hearts may be heavy with life happenings or past problems but put it into perspective; there is always someone out there that has it worse than you or I and we all have something in common; Christ walked that road, he took that journey to the cross for each one of us. My heart is troubled today that there might be someone who has not had the chance to find God’s joy or they forgot it was there. Are your hearts troubled and why? Let us pray.
Father, of yesterday, today and tomorrow, some of come filled with joy of your glory knowing that we are on the right path. Some of us come with troubled hearts and minds; confused, scared and feeling so alone…Lord, carry us and lift us up; let us find you in the midst of our tears. Lord some of have seen your glory but now our vision has dulled we ask you to clear our eyes and our hearts and our minds and to see you fully again. Lord, we know that we are your children and that you gave the ultimate sacrifice. Let us remember this as we journey with your son closer and closer to the cross and to the tomb. Amen
